By the Numbers 2023

Published on January 11, 2024

Bright numbers

City of Tucson departments and programs work every day to serve Tucson residents. Look at some of the many statistics of the work performed during the 2023 calendar year.

TUCSON WATER: 

• 22.8 billion gallons (30,529,744 ccf) of drinking water delivered
• 4.2 billion gallons (5,606,460 ccf) of recycled (reclaimed) water for public use spaces delivered for places like schools, parks, and golf courses
• Approximately 5.1 miles of distribution mains replaced
• 92,479 acre-feet of Colorado River Water recharged
• 11,253 acre-feet of reclaimed water recharged
• 2 new production wells drilled 

TUCSON PARKS AND RECREATION:
• 1 new splash pad
• 5 new LED field lights 
• 3 new playgrounds with shade 
• 5 pools and decks resurfaced
• 16 resurfaced courts for tennis and pickleball 
• 1,041 unique Senior Olympics Festival participants registered for 1,184 activities
• 53,500 park maintenance tasks completed 
• 25,654 Ready, Set, Rec! participants
• 821 recreation classes hosted with 8,881 participants  
• 1,244 KIDCO participants 
• 11,280 Therapeutics participants 
• 43,552 senior meals served 
• 6,984 ramadas reserved
• 288 lifeguards hired 
• 1,205 kids taught in swim lessons

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (HCD):
• $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant awarded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Thrive in the 05 and Tucson House
• 63 affordable housing units under construction at Milagro on Oracle through the City's new housing development arm and 4 new properties purchased to increase affordable housing stock
• 22,000 waitlist pre-applications for HCD's affordable housing programs, like public housing and Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
• 3,354 residents currently residing in public housing units
• 178 people (includes 83 children) housed at Wildcat Inn and Amazon Motel through Housing First Program
• 643 people experiencing homelessness served by the Housing First Program's new mobile shower unit
• 53 community events held in the 29th Street Thrive Zone to engage residents in community reinvestment efforts
• 125 enrolled in the Family Self-Sufficiency Program to increase savings among Housing Choice Voucher recipients
• $13,935,428 awarded to 29 nonprofit agencies and partners for human services through the P-CHIP grant-making process
• $2 million awarded in HOME funds to 3 affordable housing projects that will yield 220 units for low-income households
• $1.25 million in down payment assistance given to 29 households
• 36 low-income homeowners assisted through owner-occupied rehab and lead reduction programs

TUCSON FIRE DEPARTMENT (TFD): 
• 103,029 emergency dispatches
      • 14,465 for Fire (fires, HazMat, Technical Rescue Team, other) 
      • 88,564 for EMS 
• 8.74 minutes average total response time for Fire
• 8.05 minutes average total response time for EMS
• 247 fire investigations performed
• 58 car seat checks performed 
• 35 car seats distributed 
• 62 community home safety visits 
• 11,999 people attended Public Safety Day   
• 75 community classes  
• 37 community events 
• 478 referrals to Tucson Collaborative Community Care (TC-3). By identifying more than half of the TC-3 clients (239) after their first call to 911, TFD, in collaboration with Tucson Medical Center, prevented future EMS transports and emergency care visits, saving taxpayers $1.9 million

TUCSON POLICE DEPARTMENT (TPD): 
• 253,371 calls for service (breakdown includes 105,610 officer-initiated activities, 147,761 calls for service) as of mid-December
• 90% of homicide investigations assigned to TPD’s Homicide Detective Unit were successfully solved
• 101 new team members added (23 sworn employees, 30 professional staff, 48 community service officers)
• 195 individuals who possessed small amounts of drugs or drug paraphernalia were deflected into treatment rather than arrested
• 199 doses of Narcan administered by TPD officers to 168 individuals
• 84.8% of community members responding to a survey following their 911 calls were very satisfied/satisfied with the service provided by TPD
• 13% reduction in violent crime compared to 2022, down 9% compared to a five-year average

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT (PSCD): 
• 1,201,922 calls
• 81.57% of calls answered in 15 seconds
• 85.18% of calls answered in 20 seconds

COMMUNITY SAFETY, HEALTH & WELLNESS:
• 12 full-time staff, 2 part-time staff, and 4 student interns in the program's first full year
• 3 community enrichment coordinators engaged multiple times with more than 1,300 residents living in areas that have experienced historic disinvestment and related high rates of poverty and violent crime. 
• 87 residents and business owners in the 29th Street Thrive Zone attended the first Community Safety Academy 
• 922 calls received for social services
• More than 1,300 people successfully connected to urgent social services including eviction prevention, rental assistance, utility assistance, and emergency shelter 
• More than 250 individuals helped in recovering from or preventing crisis and improving their overall quality of life.
• 75 individuals and families rehoused or remain stable in housing through eviction prevention and affordable housing
• 215 hours of 911 operator time saved through care coordinator engagement with 475 frequent 911 callers

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY (DTM):
• 2,664 sign installations/replacements
• 672 miles of roadway striping (white and yellow)
• 87,636 potholes repaired
• 10,925 sandbags distributed
• 14,829 miles of streets swept
• 4,547 right-of-way and small wireless permits for cell towers issued
• 12 intersections received “Adaptive Signalization” to accommodate changes in traffic patterns in real-time
• 35 intersections received push button upgrades/replacements
• 985,285 square yards of roads resurfaced in 15 neighborhoods as part of the voter-approved Proposition 411: Tucson Delivers Better Streets

PUBLIC TRANSIT:
SUN TRAN:
• $21.5 million awarded in Federal Transit Administration Low/No grant funds for CNG buses to replace the last 39 diesel buses in the fleet
• 185 buses in the active fleet, with 106 CNG buses and 10 electric buses (the only system in Arizona to shift to bus electrification)
• 14,615,275 riders
• 8,188,522 service miles
• 7.48 years average bus age
• Diesel fuel averted: CNG (Diesel Gallon Equivalent) of 1,168,782 gallons and electric vehicles (Diesel Gallon Equivalent) of 14,824 gallons

SUN LINK:
• 1,667,159 riders 
• 195,799 service miles 

SUN VAN:  
• 651,102 riders 
• 12,221 for Sun On Demand
• 3,901,821 Sun Van service miles

ENVIRONMENTAL & GENERAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT (EGSD):
• 30,664 graffiti spots cleaned up
• 2,044 tree-trimmings and alley cleanups
• 2,081 homeless camp cleanups
• 598 illegal dump sites cleaned
• 235,324 tons of trash collected in Tucson
• 1,152 tons of compost generated
• 419,588 pounds of Household Hazardous Waste collected with 95% recycled or reused
• More than 445 million gallons of water treated, cleaned, reused, or reinjected at EGSD groundwater treatment systems at landfill sites:
    • Silverbell Groundwater Extraction Treatment System: Approximately 411 million gallons
    • Los Reales Sustainability Campus Pump and Treat System: Approximately 34 million gallons 
• 10 new solar sites with a total installation size of 2.1 megawatts. Environmental Protection Agency estimates this would supply enough energy for more than 330 homes every year.
• 5,797 Code Enforcement cases for inspection, with 620 of those referred to other City departments
• 9,587 Code Enforcement inspections
• 23,850 tons of recyclables collected and processed  

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT (PDSD): 
• 10,830 permits issued 
• 1,350 permits issued for new single-family residential  
• 1,311 permits issued for new multi-family residential 
• 118 permits issued for new commercial building 
• 107 plans applied for Historic Preservation Zone/Historic Landmark plans
• 28 permits issued for casitas/ADUs
• 19 new rezonings
• 19 rezoning major/minor changes 
• 13 adopted code amendments 
• 12 special exceptions
• 3 new Planned Area Developments 

PLAN TUCSON:
• More than 13,000 comments received 
• More than 2,000 people attended in-person events
• 950 online surveys completed
• 400 intercept surveys completed 
• 15 pop-up events
• 12 community workshops and meetings

PHASE II OUTREACH FOR PLAN TUCSON (IN PROGRESS):
• More than 2,000 comments received from working groups
• More than 300 community members participating in working groups
• More than 60 comments from first round of community forums 
• 16 draft goals created
• 2 community forums 

OFFICE OF ECONOMIC INITIATIVES:
• $2.1 billion total capital investment resulting from 5 incentive projects
• 1,500 quality jobs created as a result of incentive projects
• 25 business retention and expansion site visits with primary employers
• 722 businesses received technical assistance through the Small Business Program
• $1.2 million in capital accessed by businesses with assistance from the Small Business Program
• 1,400 hours of training provided to businesses through the Small Business Program
• $750,000 for nonprofits to support job training, small business growth, and special events through the Economic & Workforce Development Grant Program
• 12 major industry trade shows attended by the Economic Initiatives team to promote Tucson for business
• 1 International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Excellence in Economic Development Award for Small Business Navigator Program
• 1 Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED) Golden Prospector Award for Arizona Stitch Lab
• 1 Business Facilities Deal of the Year Impact Award for American Battery Factory

BUSINESS SERVICES DEPARTMENT (BSD):
BSD - ACCOUNTS PAYABLE:
• 158,000 transactions reviewed and approved in 12 months. Based on current team size, that is more than 100 payment transactions per day by each Accounts Payable employee

BSD - GRANTS TEAM:
• Oversaw and supported financial reporting for more than 400 federal grant awards from 45 federal agencies, amounting to more than $126.8 million in grant funded expenses in FY23

BSD - RISK MANAGEMENT: 
• 433 OSHA, Safety- and Health-related classes taught virtually and/or in person
• 8,122 employees attended OSHA, Safety- and Health-related classes provided
• 288 facility inspections conducted
• 105 vehicle inspections conducted
• 918 employee injury incident/accident investigations conducted
• 480 workers’ compensation claims filed
• 1,813 public liability incident/accident investigations resulting in 826 claims
• $249,024.92 subrogation dollars collected

BSD - TAXPAYER ASSISTANCE: 
• 15,437 customers assisted via phone
• 4,051 in-person license customers assisted
• $367,612.49 in investigation dollars collected
• 39,803 business licenses issued
 
BSD - PROCUREMENT/CONTRACTING: 
• 1,469 active contracts being maintained 
• 415 new contracts valued at $208 million

BSD - PROCUREMENT/SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (SBE) AND DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (DBE) PROGRAMS:
• 124 active contracts being tracked, valued at $356 million
• 683 subcontracts on those contracts, valued at $94 million
• 79 projects where a SBE Goal was required 
• 234 annual applications processed

BSD - PROCUREMENT/DAVIS-BACON AND RELATED ACTS (DBRA) PROGRAM:
• 11 contracts being tracked, valued at $60 million
• 120 subcontracts on those contracts
• 7,451 contractor employee certified payrolls audited
• 640 contractor employee deduction forms processed
• 81 on-site employee interviews conducted

CITY CLERK: 
• 340 notices for public meetings posted
• 869,222 ballots mailed for three elections
• 265 liquor license applications processed
• 779 public records requests received
• 1,089 claims processed
• 82 ordinances passed by Mayor and Council
• 145 resolutions passed by Mayor and Council
• More than 680 agenda items processed for consideration by Mayor and Council

HUMAN RESOURCES:
• 1,333 new hires
• 6,812 support tickets completed
• 578 recruitments conducted
• 17,036 applications received
• 10,813 employee Class and Compensation actions

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
• 9,523 Help Desk tickets
• 3.1 day average to close a ticket
• 94.1% "Happiness" rating
• 267 software titles supported

CITY OF TUCSON SOCIAL MEDIA:
• 45,134 YouTube views
• 3,368 TikTok views
• 32,557 livestream views
• 1,107 Vimeo views
• 1,494 new Facebook fans
• 4,137 new X (formerly Twitter) followers
• 3,146 new Instagram followers

TEAM UP TO CLEAN UP TUCSON:
• 41 City-organized cleanups
• 1,519 bags of litter collected
• 794 volunteer registrations at cleanup events

AFFILIATED GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING TEAM UP TO CLEAN UP:
• More than 27 unique groups or organizations reported holding a cleanup
• 254 bags of litter collected
• 311 volunteer registrations at cleanup events

 

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